The Parent Trap
by Mogseltof
Summary: My take on the Lily and James come back to life idea- set in the Summer before Harry's fourth year what happens when Dumbledore and McGonagall run into a couple of unexpected someones in the shrieking shack? T for foul language
1. Prologue: That Sinking Feeling

**The Parent Trap**

_Garrah! Mogseltof speaking- Just an idea… I've read a couple of these, but none really set them out in the way I was thinking it should be done. It's a fun idea though and I thought I might have a play with it._

_**Disclaimer- Ooh! Idea! Story disclaimer! I own zilch! Yippee!**_

_Prologue- That Sinking Feeling_

All Harry Potter was expecting was a normal summer holiday. Admittedly a summer holiday a bit better than his last few (with his 'criminal' godfather as leverage against his, ahem, overbearing relatives) and a trip to the Quidditch with his best friends, but a fairly ordinary holiday nonetheless. So, needless to say, he was surprised when it turned out not quite as ordinary as he was expecting it to be…

It all started the day after his birthday. For all intents and purposes, it was a normal day. It started normal, it felt normal to begin with and to his aunt, uncle and dieting cousin, it was a normal morning. Harry had pretended to stick to Dudley's diet, while his aunt had made sickening cooing noises about what a brave boy his cousin was, and his uncle had grunted and complained like usual. Dudley stole most of everyone else's breakfast of course.

The madness started around midday.

His family didn't exactly notice though. Before lunch Harry thought he might sit in the garden for a little, increase his vitamin d intake, the Hermione in his head chirruped happily. He plonked himself lazily on the garden bench that he had painted years before and contemplated the benefits of taking a walk to the park up the road, get out from under Dudley's nose for a while, and stop his aunt realising that there was an untapped source of labour in his body.

It was one of those days where it was too hot to do anything. He was panting by the time he reached the park, and wondered whether it would be worth looking like a git and wearing shorts to get rid of the weight of denim on his legs. No. for starters it would be too much effort to go back to Privet Drive to get the shorts, and aunt Petunia might spot him.

Plus he would look like a git.

The metal of the various playground equipments was blistering in the summer heat, so Harry sat on one of the swings and began to push himself back and forth lazily, stopping after a few minutes when the small effort became too much.

At first, he thought the heat was getting to him. It was as if his blood was boiling in his skin. He stopped moving and started to head over to the paltry water fountain on the other side of the park in case it was a heatstroke, but collapsed before he got halfway.

It hurt. In later years, he would compare the pain to the likes of the cruciatus curse, but that day in the park, all he could think was that it hurt as nothing had before. His blood was boiling, bubbling, it was like his skin was being torn apart and his scar was hurting worse than the time he had killed Quirrell.

The pain stopped suddenly, and Harry sat up, gasping. He stumbled over to the drink fountain and gulped massive amounts of the warm water, before running back to Privet Drive. He was shaking all over, and his head felt like it was going to split open with that dull pain that was a roaring headache.

Harry ran inside and up to his bedroom, mercifully ignored by his aunt and uncle (Dudley was 'at tea' with his 'friends'). He ripped open the loose floorboard and pulled out the pillowcase with all the food he'd been sent in it, devouring half a birthday cake and a packet of chocolate frogs before the sugar kicked in and his pulse calmed.

What the hell had just happened?

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On the other side of the country, a young-ish woman pumped her fist and screamed a "Yes!"

Her daughter poked her head around the door of the study and blinked at her owlishly. The woman shook her head and shooed her out.

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Meanwhile, at a magical school in the wilds of Scotland, a few odd things had been happening.

Most of the teachers had gone home for the summer holidays- to recuperate for a few weeks before the hordes of students fell upon the school once more, and to plan their courses for next year. Alternatively, to rehash their old ones and make sure they were up-to-date. Albus Dumbledore however, had never left. He liked the calm of the empty school, and the headmaster's quarters were more than comfortable enough for him. So it was on this bright, stinkingly hot day that he and Minerva McGonagall (who had come up from her friendly house a way out from the castle on the moors) found themselves walking down to the Hogshead pub to have a drink and a chat to Aberforth.

Well, Minerva would chat while Aberforth glared at his older brother.

That plan however, was disrupted when they heard a series of loud noises coming from the direction of the shrieking shack.

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Lily Potter, nee Evans, was in a foul mood. She was in the shrieking shack, without a wand, she didn't know how she'd gotten there, she couldn't find her baby, she couldn't find a way out, one of their most trusted friends had just sold them out to Voldemort and her complete prat of a husband wouldn't WAKE UP!

She screamed, threw a chair at a wall (where it disintegrated from age) and aimed a vindictive kick at said husband to vent her feelings.

James Potter stirred with a faint moan and then sat bolt upright, eyes wide with panic. "Lily! Are you alright? Is Harry alright? I'm alive? Where are we? Peter sold us out? What happened? Where's my wand?"

Lily growled, her expression so fierce it would have sent a werewolf scrambling (and had, on occasion). "Oh I'm just spiffing! Absolutely fantastic! I don't know where Harry is, no shit Sherlock, seems like we're in the fucking shrieking shack, NO SHIT SHERLOCK, IHAVEN'T GOT A FUCKING CLUE AND IF I KNEW WHERE YOUR WAND WAS THEN I WOULD KNOW WHERE MINE WAS!"

James winced slightly at this shouted deliberation, but jumped up when his wife collapsed into sobs. "Shh, shh Lily. It'll be alright. We'll figure something out." He made soothing noises, his heart sinking. Voldemort. In all likelihood, his laughing baby boy was dead, and there was worse waiting for themselves. Without wands, they were, to use something Lily had dubbed 'Paddy Terminology', screwed.

There was a creak from downstairs of someone opening the front door, and James and Lily jumped up and raced onto the landing, determined not to go down without a fight.

And that was how Albus and Minerva found their famously dead alumni, in the shrieking shack, on the first of August, 1994.

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_There we go- what do you think? Interesting? Attention grabbing? Please do tell- there's a little blue link just underneath here where you can- I accept anonymous reviews! Nah, I don't mind. It would be nice, but not necessary._

_I really shouldn't be writing this (what with another three fics on the go, and my Ginny centric Chamber of Secrets slowing down to beyond sluggish), but I couldn't resist a dabble._

_TTFN  
__XD Mogseltof_


	2. Well About Bloody Time

_Garrah! Mogseltof speaking- Wow. You all officially rock. XD My specific thanks go out to Lunitari18, Lady Canu, Larka Rinna Luna, BARON2462, dphsgo, SherrieSmith, Bellaredi, bluebug119, pointblank135 and anyone else who alerted/favourited this- I can't type out the rest of you, but you are all awesome :D_

_Chapter 1- Well About Bloody Time_

"_And that was how Albus and Minerva found their famously dead alumni, in the shrieking shack, on the first of August, 1994."_

Minerva's wand hand wavered- she almost dropped her wand. Albus remained steady, but any remains of the jocular façade he always wore were gone, his face stony as he looked at the dead couple in front of him.

Lily and James however, relaxed completely. Lily almost flew down the stairs in numb relief, James just behind her- Dumbledore was here. Dumbledore would know what had happened and what they had to do. Dumbledore meant everything was going to be alright.

They faltered at their less-than-friendly reception. James caught up with his wife and steadied her.

Dumbledore and Minerva took in the pair in front of them. James and Lily were gaunt, sunken. They were also a mess. Lily's auburn curtain was a hurricane of snarls and matted with dirt. There was a smudge running across her cheek and her faded robes had a large tear down the side. James hair was the same as always- but that meant nothing. James' hair was one of those indicators- if it ever changed, then there was truly something desperately wrong with the world. It was hair that did not obey natural laws. There were bruises over one side of his face though, one of his ankles sat the wrong way and his robes looked like a swarm of killer moths had attacked him while he slept. They were both quivering like, Dumbledore's mouth almost twitched, deer caught in wandlight.

Dumbledore and McGonagall did not lower their wands an inch.

James spoke first. "Professors, do you know what's happened? How we got here?" he said softly, but Lily broke in.

"Is Harry alive?"

Soon they were speaking over each other.

"How are we alive?"

"Where's Harry?"

"Where are our wands?"

"Is everyone ok?"

"How long were we out for?"

"What happened with Peter?"

"What happened to Voldemort?" At this, they both fell silent, and turned to Dumbledore, wan with worry and despair.

It was Minerva who spoke though. Trembling with rage, she thrust her wand up even more and hissed. "How dare you. How _dare_ you!" she brought her wand back as if to curse them, but Dumbledore stayed her.

"I think Minerva, we should find out who these people are before we condemn them entirely."

Minerva made a noise like an angry goose. "Albus, how can you even suggest that something, something like _this_," she made a wild gesture at the Potters, "could be anything other than condemned, when-"

Dumbledore's look made her break off in mid-sentence, and she fumed silently beside him, wand pointing at the long dead pair.

"Now," he said, in a dangerously calm voice that made the hairs stand up on Lily's neck, "forgive me for asking, but who are you really?"

James licked his lips. He'd only ever seen Dumbledore like this once. Marauder lesson 51. A crucial life lesson that almost ripped the four of them apart. He already felt fifteen again- only this time he was on the receiving end of this bone freezing voice that made you realise you had pushed it too far this time. "James and Lily Potter, Professor. " he said, unconsciously using the title he'd been told to abandon nearly four years previously.

"If you are James Potter," said Dumbledore, still in that icy calm voice devoid of all emotion, "then are you willing to prove it?"

"Of course sir." James was a little puzzled.

"Then you can show me Prongs?" James breath caught. This was why Dumbledore was so angry. He must have found out somehow. Well, no use playing dumb if he knew. That would only make him angrier.

He bowed his head as a grim smile settled on Dumbledore's lips. "Yes sir." He said resignedly, releasing Lily, who walked over to the ancient and dusty sideboard.

Not noticing the look of surprise on the two teachers' faces, he transformed into the bespectacled stag, walked around the room (finally noticing his broken ankle) and transformed back. He winced as he shifted back, landing on the dud ankle, and Lily rushed over to support him, pushing his weight onto his good leg.

"James why didn't you say your ankle's broken?"

"I honestly didn't notice." He said absently. "Are you okay professors?" he asked, noticing that they were standing stock still, Dumbledore looking thoughtful, Minerva looking shocked, wand held loosely. Her mouth formed a small, silent 'o' of surprise. Dumbledore had filled her in on the extraordinary events that had taken place at the end of the previous year- and while she had felt sure that he had taken leave of his senses, she trusted him implicitly.

"Ah." Was all she could articulate.

Dumbledore took charge (as if anyone else would). "Right, we need to get you both up to the school and looked at. I'm sure the house-elves will be delighted to have someone to look after other than myself and we have recently taken into employ one who would be honoured I think." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at the thought of the odd house elf that used to be in the employ of the Malfoy family.

"W-well we can't bring them through Hogsmeade." Minerva said, tearing her gaze away from her miraculously alive ex-students.

"Most certainly not." Said Dumbledore. "That would be most unwise I should think. We will have to peruse the passage from this little house to the ever remarkable willow then." He strode off in the direction of the entrance to the willow.

Minerva shook herself and followed quickly behind Lily and James. "Here James." She said, binding his ankle with a flick of her wand.

James was once again puzzled. Dumbledore didn't seem to be angry about the fact that he was an illegal animagus, so why had he been so furious?

Minerva McGonagall had other matters on her mind as she gritted her teeth and crawled up the passage. The most pressing one perhaps being, how do you tell someone they've been dead for thirteen years?

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Harry lay on his bed, allowing his pulse to return to a steady rate, when a large, bright, tropical bird hammered on his window. Sirius! He jumped up and opened the window quickly- he needed to tell someone what had just happened, and his godfather was someone who might know what it meant. He wasn't sure he could face telling his best friends.

He scanned his godfather's letter, smiling at the casual, happy tone of it. He gave the bird a couple of owl treats from Hedwig's bowl and absently wondered where his snowy owl was. Harry wandered downstairs after waving the bird off, a letter to Sirius clutched tightly in its claws, and collected half a carrot for lunch from his aunt, who immediately set him to sweeping.

He slacked off half way through, sweeping a dust bunny under the hall rug and darting back into his room, thinking about getting some of his holiday work done.

He walked in and spotted Hedwig, perched on the end of his bed, a dead mouse hanging from her beak. She hooted, disgruntled, and Harry looked over to see an unfamiliar barn owl sitting on top of his bird's cage, thick yellow envelope in beak. Ah, Hogwarts letter had arrived. Harry grabbed it, gave the owl a couple of Hedwig's treats and ripped open the envelope as it flew away.

Well, it wasn't this year's booklist that was for sure.

"_Dear Mr Potter,_

"_Something rather, well, close to home has come up. You are needed for a few days at Hogwarts. I will be by at 2.00 this afternoon sharp. You may wish to bring a change of clothes, but your school things will not be necessary._

"_Professor McGonagall"_

Harry blinked. Then reread the letter. This was new.

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"So what you're saying," Lily said, her voice dangerous, "is that we've been dead for thirteen years after being betrayed, our innocent, _actual_, friend just broke out of _Azkaban_, our only child has been living with my magic-hating sister and brother in law and has managed to almost get himself _killed_ no less than three times." She finished flatly.

James wisely decided not to point out that the dementors would have left him soulless instead of dead. He liked his testicles.

Lily fell back into her chair, paler than she had been before. And she had been dead before. This, this was- well mind blowing. Tears ran down her face, but if Lily Potter noticed, she didn't care. James pulled her into a hug, thinking as well. If they were dead then why were they back? What had triggered their return? The thing that both kept returning to though, was Harry.

Minerva had gone almost an hour ago, to owl and collect their son. Both parents were extremely anxious. What would Harry think of them?

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Professor McGonagall stood on the doorstep of number four privet drive, hand raised to knock. What would Harry think when he saw his long dead parents? How would he react?

She took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

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Harry heard a knock on the front door and whirled around to face his clock. It was ticking over from 1.59 to 2. He muttered a couple of choice words he had learnt from Ron and grabbed an extra sweater, his pyjamas and his wand, sticking the wand in his back pocket and the rest in the pillow case from under the floor. He paused on his way out and topped up Hedwig's food bowl- he couldn't rely on the Dursleys to feed her, and he didn't know how long he'd be gone- before running downstairs, eager to reach McGonagall before his aunt.

No, no that would be far too lucky for him.

His aunt had beaten him, and was staring quite frostily at the witch on her stoop. To be fair, McGonagall wasn't letting it get her down, and was glaring back with equal blizzard-like quality. Harry paused, unsure how to approach this situation, where the two women were bearing down on each other's wills with such evenly matched loathing. It was, he thought, rather like watching Malfoy and Ron face off across the great hall.

He shifted, and cleared his throat nervously. The attention of both women turned sharply on him. He almost took a half step back in alarm at their expressions.

McGonagall softened noticeably when she realised it was him, and she relaxed- though not completely. If the _house_ hadn't changed in any minutiae, it wasn't likely that the attitudes of the people in it had either. "Mr Potter." She said, with a stiff nod of the head, aware of Mrs Dursley shooting looks at her.

"Professor." Said Harry nervously. Aunt Petunia looked like she wanted to kill something, shooting looks at the neighbouring houses' windows while the three of them stood there.

Professor McGonagall held out her arm, face high and haughty as she gave a last glare to Petunia Dursley before turning to the woman's nephew. "I am going to take you by apparition to Hogsmeade Mr Potter, from where we shall walk up to the castle. There are things you should know."

Harry blinked at her, nonplussed. "Apparition?"

McGonagall sighed. "Take my arm Potter."

Harry tentatively took her arm, and the professor turned on the spot. He felt like his insides were being squeezed through a small tube, darkness closing in on him from all sides. There was a loud crack, and he was in the small wizarding village just outside of Hogwarts.

Harry swayed dangerously. He wasn't going to vomit, he thought. He decided he like apparating even less than floo powder, and said as much out loud. McGonagall's lip twitched slightly, but she kept up her stern mask that she adopted around all younger than 30, and those who she had once taught.

Harry found himself outside of Dumbledore's office door, McGonagall having escorted him up before leaving, saying something about the kitchens and Peeves. He took a nervous breath, mind jumping to all sorts of ridiculous conclusions, and knocked.

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_There we go! How will Harry react? How will Harry's parents react? What will Peeves do when he realises who's back? (I actually haven't got a clue, I just wanted a third thing :D)_

_If you have read this, you are officially awesome! Reviewers get a scoop of virtual ice-cream, flavour being picked from the results of the poll on my profile (no, not wanting anyone to vote or anything…) XD_

_TTFN_

_XD Mogseltof_


	3. Family Values

_Garrah! Mogseltof speaking- virtual vanilla and choc-chip ice-creams for keeperoliver, Larka Rinna Luna, jessirose85, HLK Masters, fshm, S-wanderer999,vaneBEAR,Sol Swan Cullen, pumbleXchook and BARON2462. Neopolitan samples for all you alerters and favouriters- you also rock. :D_

_Chapter 2- Family Values_

"_He took a nervous breath, mind jumping to all sorts of ridiculous conclusions, and knocked."_

"Come in." Harry opened the door and saw Dumbledore sitting at his desk, expression grave, but eyes twinkling. The teenaged boy told his pulse to behave, but he couldn't stop thinking of all the possible reasons that he could have been called here. Had Sirius been caught? Was one of his friends in trouble? Was he in trouble?

Dumbledore caught his expression and smiled. "Nothing bad has happened Harry. Unexpected perhaps, but I do not believe you will think it terrible." Harry relaxed a little. But then why was he here?

Dumbledore looked at the teen in front of him. There was no gentle way to tell him. He sighed. "Harry there is really no gentle way to tell you this," Harry looked nervously at him. "for some reason, we don't know why or how, your parents are back from the dead."

Harry blinked. Then precisely what the headmaster had said filtered through his brain in full. "What?" he leapt up, mouth open, shock on his face. "But… but, but what!" the look on his face would be comical, if it weren't for the fact that the situation was anything but. He looked at his headmaster with undisguised disbelief, shock and something indescribable.

Dumbledore looked at Harry, face unreadable. "I think, Harry, that it is high time you met your parents. They are down in the kitchens- after thirteen or so years they are understandably peckish."

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Lily Potter was curious about meeting her son. For starters, how had he coped living with Petunia and the domesticated walrus she called Neanderthal, er, sorry, husband. Lily also wanted to know everything about him- his friends, his marks and what exactly _had_ happened in his first three years at Hogwarts- Dumbledore had merely given a rough outline and said that Harry had beaten Voldemort, fought a basilisk and rescued Sirius. He hadn't said how, or why, or anything really. She sighed into the treacle tart the house-elves had pushed onto her, while her husband stared at the house-elf Dumbledore had assigned to look after them.

James was indeed staring avidly at the house-elf. It was quite unlike any house-elf he'd ever met. Positively batty. "So," he started, "you're saying that you're getting paid?" he said, a grin spreading over his face. He liked house-elves.

The house-elf called Dobby answered gleefully. "Yes sir. After Dobby was rescued sir he decided to look for masters that wanted Dobby sir."

"Rescued?" asked James. What had happened that this house-elf had needed rescuing?

"Yes sir. And all that Harry Potter asked in return sir was that Dobby never try to save his life again sir." Lily dropped her spoon into the tart dish with a clang. James glanced over at his wife, who was now scooting closer to listen, before turning back to Dobby.

"Never try to save his life again?" James asked, incredulous.

"Please, God no. One arm missing bones is enough for a lifetime." Came a soft voice from the doorway.

Harry looked at the two people sitting at the large table in the kitchen, emotions running wild. Everything he'd ever wished for, everything he'd ever wanted, everything he'd never dared hope for was sitting there in front of a treacle tart and an insane yet friendly house-elf. It was like a dream.

Lily was the first to crack.

Now Harry knew that this wasn't some weird imagining of his subconscious. He was hugging his mother- his real, _live_ mother- and she was hugging back. It was a fierce, desperate hug, a hug that promised never to leave again, never to leave him alone in the dark, always to love, and Harry relished in that hug. It was the first time he'd been given such a hug, the first time he'd felt such an outpouring of need for him.

He felt a spreading damp patch on his shoulder, and realised she was crying. Sobs racked her body, and he held her tighter, closer. A new pair of arms encircled him, and he looked up into a pair of warm hazel eyes streaming tears, framed by a face so like the one he saw in the mirror each day.

For the first time in his life, Harry Potter hugged his parents and they hugged back.

None of the three had noticed the house-elves and Dumbledore leave. (Dumbledore to head off an irate school nurse who had just been pulled out of her holiday to help the unexpected visitors.)

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"If you set up in the hospital wing Poppy, they will come to you when they come to you. They have rather more pressing matters-"

"More pressing? What, pray tell, is more pressing than your health? You haven't even told me who I am to attend to! Next you'll be telling me that they've come back from the dead or something equally ridiculous!"

As such, Dumbledore heard the two witches before he actually saw them. The two were quite vocal.

"Ah, Poppy, how wonderful to see you again."

"Dumbledore." The matron turned a fierce glare on her boss, "Minerva was just informing me that I cannot see the patients you called me out to attend to. Would you care to explain?"

If Dumbledore had been younger and had experienced a lot less, he would've quailed. As it was, he merely looked at her calmly. "That is correct my dear. They have other, private, matters to attend to just now- their health is not the most urgent issue. You will wish to set up I think- and I will inform you of their… shall we say, unusual circumstances."

Madam Pomfrey opened her mouth as if to argue, but the headmaster held up a hand. She instead bustled off in the direction of her domain, muttering angrily underneath her breath.

Minerva gave him a long-suffering look, with a raised eyebrow. "What do I do now Albus?"

"I think that there are people we should contact. If you would floo Remus perhaps, and… Severus. I have an owl, or tropical bird, to send off." Minerva shook her head softly at her headmaster. Severus? He didn't enjoy having his holidays interrupted at all… And would it really be wise to have him and James Potter in close quarters? Remus was easy enough though, and she ought to trust Dumbledore's judgement by now.

She turned on her heel and walked briskly off in the direction of her office. Dumbledore chuckled and began the walk up to the owlery, to find a sturdy bird up for the long journey to contact Sirius.

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"So, you see, I can't really tell you anything properly until you meet Ron and Hermione- they did just as much as me, sometimes more." Harry skated. He was avoiding telling any of the details of his… extracurricular activities of the previous years to his parents. It would be too weird, telling them without the two people who had accompanied him on each one.

"Well I can't wait to meet them both." Said his mother. "They seem like very good friends." She smiled, and batted away her son's hand, which was lingering over her nearly finished tart. "Mine." She said with a grin, failing to notice her husband sneaking the last spoonful. "Hey!" she cried, Harry's grin alerting her to James' indiscretion with her food. She cuffed him around the back of the head, a scowl replacing the grin.

Harry laughed at the pouting James, and realised with a start that he was still holding his pillow case. Huh, convenient… almost like someone was looking back and had found a discrepancy in what had happened thus far, creating a useful plot device…

He pulled out one of his cake tins- Mrs Weasley's (he trusted her cooking a lot more than any of the others')- and opened it. The looks on his parents' faces were puzzled.

"You carry your cake with you?" asked James slowly, but Lily's face had darkened, as if she had realised something that she didn't like one bit.

"I bet he does." She said grimly. "And I very much doubt it was my darling sister who made it for him." At James puzzled look she ploughed on. "You remember my sister don't you?" James nodded, still slightly puzzled. "Well, to put it lightly, she hates magic. Completely and utterly. The walrus she married isn't exactly a fan either."

"Understatement." Muttered Harry.

His parents had heard though, and Lily's face darkened more than it already had, a scowl rapidly becoming a largely prominent feature, while James had gotten a look of dawning comprehension, remembering the horsy woman who had been so disdainful at their wedding reception.

Lily sighed, and buried her head into her forearms as she slumped over the tabletop, tears collecting in her eyes again. "Tuney…" she moaned softly. James collected her up onto his lap and held her close. Harry held back, unsure of what to do, but James beckoned him over and pulled him into the hug. Harry awkwardly leant into it, not quite comfortable yet, and Lily gave a weak chuckle.

"I'm fine, I'll live- not made of porcelain you know." She smiled wetly.

James gave an evil grin. "Oh believe me, I know."

She swotted him around the back of his head, laughing slightly. James grin turned to a slightly more innocent looking one.

There was a cough at the door. Dumbledore was back. "James, Lily, madam Pomfrey would like to attend to her patients, and then I think a little reunion of friends is in order. Harry, you have an owl."

A feathery golf ball buzzed around Dumbledore and straight at Harry. He reached up and caught it- it was rather like an extremely fuzzy snitch. The small owl, as he realised it was, he recognised as the one Sirius had given to Ron. Detaching the letter, he released the owl, who gave a cheery hoot, before taking flight to flutter around his head, giving Harry strong vibes of flying pink elephants. His father (his _father_) was sniggering at the overenthusiastic bird, and his mother was giving a broad smile. Harry smiled back. "Ron." He said. His parents nodded, and Harry followed them up to the hospital wing.

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_There we go. How'd I do? :O. I'm not too sure if I wrote the emotional bits ok, and some of it feels a bit rushed… _

_Don't worry Baron! There will be a scene with Lily reacting quite badly to the things that they do- I just want it to be with Ron and Hermione, I think that Ron's tactlessness will make for an interesting discussion…_

_I'm writing this as I go- so updates will not be every couple of days I'm afraid; I have too much homework and I am loath to drop my other fics which do require my writing them… I'm updating as quick as I can people! :D_

_Remember- the ice-cream poll is still on! I am insanely curious XD_

_Also, if there is anything you'd like to see happen-let me know, and I'll see what I can do. I may have other plans, but largely this fic is spontaneous and unplanned. I do have a 'meeting the Weasleys' scene written though, and that is not changing XD_

_So after that disgustingly long A/N, TTFN  
__XD Mogseltof_


	4. Friends

_Garrah! Mogseltof speaking- Triple-choc ice-creams for Louey06, shine lots, keeperoliver, Rachel D Jack, Baron, jessirose85, charlee13, Vicki219, vaneBEAR, Sol Swan Cullen and Imaginone you all are the greatest! That goes out to the alerters and favouriters too! Sorry if you think this one is late- it took a while to write, I had other fics to attend to and I had to reset my laptop (This is a good thing! I now have access to admin settings!)_

_Chapter 3- Friends_

"_His parents nodded, and Harry followed them up to the hospital wing."_

Minerva and Dumbledore had, of course, neglected to warn Poppy of the nature of her patients. The look on her face, Harry thought, was a surprising mix of shock, disbelief, incredulity, happiness, anger, sadness, with a touch of melancholy and exasperation all at once. She had berated Dumbledore and McGonagall mercilessly, using her tongue as a fearsome weapon. She had exclaimed, shocked at the state of Lily and James, and had shoved Harry onto a bed, muttering about him being far too thin. Harry was strongly reminded of Mrs Weasley. Speaking of…

He leaned back as Madam Pomfrey bustled around, giving his parents (his _parents_) various potions and tutting loudly over the state of his father's ankle. Harry winced when she announced that it had shattered, so she'd have to vanish the bones and regrow them. James who gave a loud groan and started muttering under his breath, much to Lily's amusement, shared this sentiment. Peeling back the layers of parchment, Harry smiled, recognising the untidy scrawl of his best friend. The small owl hooted excitedly.

"_Harry,_

"_DAD GOT THE TICKETS. Bulgaria vs. Ireland. Monday night. Mum's writing to the muggles to ask you to stay. They might already have the letter, I don't know how fast the muggle post is. Thought I'd send this with Pig anyway._

"_We're coming for you whether the muggles like it or not, you can't miss the World Cup, only Mum and Dad reckon it's better if we pretend to ask their permission first. If they say yes, send Pig back with your answer pronto, and we'll come and get you five o'clock on Sunday. If they say no, send Pig back pronto and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday anyway._

"_Hermione's arriving this afternoon. Percy's started work- the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Don't mention anything about Abroad while you're here unless you want the pants bored off you._

"_See you soon- Ron."_

Harry looked up at the tiny owl. It didn't look much like a pig. Maybe he just couldn't read Ron's handwriting. Then his eyes flicked back to the letter. Mr Weasley had gotten the tickets to the world cup! YES! He punched the air. After the recent events everything seemed a million times better, lighter, happier. He grinned wildly at the thought of uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia getting a letter about Quidditch. His mother gave him an odd look with a quirk of a smile at his enthusiasm. His father gave a small whimper of pain at the Skelegro from his bed.

Lily held her arms out to her son and he walked over. She wanted to hold him forever, hold him to make up for all the times she should have but couldn't, just hold him and tell the world to go bother someone else for a while. James rolled over and gave a pained grimace to his wife and son curled up on the bed opposite. Lily stuck out her tongue at him. "Wimp. It doesn't hurt that much."

"Yes it does." Said James and Harry. Lily and James stared at their son.

"You've had Skelegro." Said Lily tiredly.

"Yeah." Said Harry. "Rogue bludger." He said shortly, not really wanting to go into a spiel about Lockhart.

Lily groaned. "He got the Quidditch gene."

James gave a broad grin and winched himself up to lean on his elbow. "Of course he did. Don't you remember him zooming around on the mini?"

"I remember him breaking the ornaments and nearly killing the cat." She said. "Bloody Sirius."

"Sirius bought me a miniature broom?" asked Harry interestedly, "And we had a cat?"

"Yep" said James. "And no complaints about the ornaments you broke- they were disgusting." He said with a laugh. "So you play. What type of broom have you got?"

"A Firebolt. Came out around this time last year. It's international standard and Sirius ordered it for me when my Nimbus died."

"He took time out while on the run to buy an international standard broom?" Lily asked incredulously while James laughed. "Typical Sirius."

Harry laughed with his father. He'd never really thought of it that way.

"So who was the letter from?" asked Lily cautiously. Laughing with her son had felt natural, hugging him, chatting about meaningless things like Quidditch (a small smile graced her lips at the thought of what the two of them would say about Quidditch being meaningless), but this boy was still somewhat a stranger to her, and she didn't want to… well, she supposed, pry.

"Ron." Said Harry, also a little cautiously. He really wanted to go to the cup- but these were his _parents_. He wanted to spend every moment possible with them, and he couldn't exactly do that if he went and stayed at the Weasleys' for the rest of the summer. Could he? "The World Cup's on Monday and he's asking me to stay on the seventh." He finished hesitantly. Ordinarily he'd jump at a chance like this, but his _parents_ were here…

James sat bolt upright, ignoring the stabbing pains in his ankle and stared at his son excitedly. "The World Cup? _The_ Quidditch World Cup!" Lily rolled her eyes. James was going to get excited now.

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Remus Lupin stepped into Professor McGonagall's office at about 4.30, sweeping ash off his robes onto her carpet as he did so. He grimaced and vanished it with an apologetic look at the stern teacher as he did so. Minerva shook her head with a small smile, a little ash didn't really matter that much.

"You said there was something I needed to see Minerva?" asked Remus curiously. Why was he being asked to come up to the castle in the middle of summer? Sirius hadn't been caught- it would've been in the paper- so what had happened?

As if she was reading his mind, Minerva spoke up. "You see Remus," she hesitated, "something rather unusual happened this morning." She stopped, not quite sure how to break it to the werewolf that his two best friends had come back from the dead.

"Yes?" asked the soft-spoken lycanthrope.

"Well, you see- oh there is no other way for it!" Remus stared. McGonagall? Flustered? Had he accidentally been transported to another dimension where she could _get_ flustered? An alternate universe? A badly written story? He shoved all of these ridiculous thoughts out of his head and turned his attention back to the deputy headmistress, who had regained most of her composure.

"Remus, it's- it's Lily and James. They've come back to life."

Remus went stock-still. No. No this couldn't be possible. This was some kind of dream world. It had to be. It just had to be. This, this didn't happen. It couldn't happen! It was impossible for something like this to happen!

"I assure you I am not making this up Remus." Minerva said quietly. She'd only seen him like this once- when he found out that Lily and James were dead.

Remus' shoulders slumped. If it was a dream, it was one of the most realistic and bizarre he'd ever had. And he could see Lily and James again. Even if it was a dream, he longed for that. "Where?" he asked, voice hoarse.

Minerva nodded calmly, sensing the disbelief in his voice, knowing that it would dissipate when he saw the Potter family together. "The hospital wing. We thought it might cause a few ripples if we took them to St Mungo's and they needed attention."

Remus nodded and followed the teacher from her office.

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Dumbledore had other matters on his mind as he paced his office. A large barn owl was already winging it's way out to Sirius with a letter telling him he needed to head north almost immediately, but there were other things to be considered as well.

Arthur Weasley had written to ask if Harry could stay for the rest of the summer as he had been given tickets to the cup from work- at the time Dumbledore had agreed, but now this had happened. Also, the matter of number four Privet Drive was to be considered. It would be fairly safe to assume that Harry would no longer recognise it as home with his parents here to look after him- and Dumbledore wouldn't force the issue. There was only so far a man should go, and to deprive a child of his parents and a loving home with them was too far. Plus with Lily back in the realms of the living the blood wards may not be in effect anymore.

Albus stopped at his desk and picked up a sherbet lemon, sucking thoughtfully. There was also the matter of where the Potters would live. And what would happen when the press found out. There was no chance of something like this slipping under the radar softly and smoothly.

Sighing he went over to the fireplace. He hoped Molly wouldn't mind an extra two people for the summer. As he took the green powder in hand, he wondered when Severus was going to get back from that conference in France…

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James and Lily were listening to Harry tell them about the scratch matches he had with the twins and Ron at the Weasley's over the past couple of summers when the hospital wing door swang open and Remus Lupin walked in. Harry stopped talking and waved at his former professor, eyes bright.

Ignoring Madam Pomfrey's protests, James stood, and looked at the man he knew as a brother. Lily patted her sons shoulder, and he quickly moved, letting her stand up.

The full moon was in three days. Across the room Remus could see every detail of the pair- details he thought he'd never see again. The way Lily's hair had that slight curl at the bottom. The way James' eyes reflected golden flecks against the warm hazel in the sunlight. How Lily stood with one foot slightly out, and James always managed to have his glasses slipping down his nose slightly. The smells were what hit him next and he knew in an instant that it couldn't be a dream. Not with that much clarity. He never smelt things in his dreams, and these were smells that he had never forgotten in 13 years. Lily was standing there- wafting sunflowers, a touch of lavender and the slightly acrid taint of her shampoo. James next to her- the faint tinge of lemon custard that he would always associate with him, a woodish, bracken scent that had come with Prongs and the musk, his intoxication with the woman standing beside him.

Remus was numb. "James." He said softly, hoarsely. "Lily?"

"Moony." James let the boyish nickname slip from his lips.

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_Apologies if this took a little longer than you'd like, as I said, there were necessary things to attend to in my life. Annoying I know, but three more days and I'll have a fortnight of free writing time. Promise I'll make it up to you then _

_TTFN, Rawr_

_XD Mogseltof_


	5. The Family You Choose Part 1

_Garrah! Mogseltof speaking- fshm, Sol Swan Cullen, Cara Kate, Vicki219, Louey06, RachelDJack, BARON2462, jjjc, verox29, GeordieGirl, FairyVampire and Sunshinebear01 win the ice creams this time. _

_Chapter 4- The Family You Choose (part 1)_

""_Moony." James let the boyish nickname slip from his lips."_

Harry watched the two men embrace much as Sirius and Lupin had embraced a few short weeks ago. It hit home once more that this was his _father_ and his _mother_ standing here, hugging Remus making his life so much better. He felt happier than he had ever felt before, happier than when he had found out he was going to Hogwarts, happier than when he had become friends with Ron and Hermione, happier even than he was when Sirius asked him to live with him. His _parents_ were here.

He sat back on his mother's vacated bed and watched his _parents_ chat animatedly with Prof- no, ex-professor, Lupin. Lupin had a light in his eyes, a light that Harry had seen in his reflection from a corridor mirror on his way up to the hospital wing with his _parents_. It was a light of happiness, and hope, and of wishes come true. It was light like Elendil; he smiled, thinking of Hermione who had lent him the heavy book to read over the holidays. He was stuck with Sam and Frodo in the rock maze.

The door to the hospital wing swung open, and Dumbledore strode in, a small, almost imperceptible smile on his face. Madam Pomfrey bustled out and glared at him and her patients who were having far too much activity for her liking. Harry realised with a start that it was almost six o'clock.

Dobby and a few other house elves trotted in with a large platter covered in food. Dumbledore conjured a table and the others all pulled up chairs. "Sit down Remus." Said Dumbledore firmly as the werewolf made to go, not wanting to impose. He sighed and pulled up a chair of his own. Professor McGonagall and madam Pomfrey, who fussed around putting food on all of their plates, joined them.

After the dinner had been eaten, the house elves returned, delighted to have something to do to keep them busy. Harry felt a slight twinge of guilt at all the dirty plates, and noticed that his mother had the same expression on her face. Dumbledore leant back, wearing a soft smile now, and looked at the people around him. "I've dedicated some thought to this situation."

Minerva snorted, knowing full well this meant he had thought of little else since that morning.

Dumbledore nodded, acknowledging her call of his bluff. "Accommodation for the remainder of the holidays has been organised- the admirable Mrs Weasley would be delighted to have you. There are a few other matters that need to be sorted- namely the matter of how to tell the world you are back with minimum fuss."

James looked up. "What about Sirius? We need to prove that he's innocent, that he didn't betray us."

Dumbledore sighed and rubbed his temples. "Therein lies the problem James. Sirius wasn't imprisoned for betraying you- he was imprisoned for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and twelve muggles. Unless we can capture Peter and prove he is not in fact dead, and it was he not Sirius who killed those twelve people, we cannot prove Sirius' innocence. The circumstantial evidence we have is not enough, and the word of three teenagers, even backed by myself, will not sway the Wizengamot."

Harry and Lily had been expecting this, but it did not make the disappointment any less. James sighed and slumped back in his seat, wishing bitterly that he could just _do_ something to help his friend.

Dumbledore continued. "I have arranged with Cornelius for a meeting at lunch on Wednesday- he does not, of course, know what it is about, but I will explain it in full. Cornelius I believe is good man, if a little set in his ways. Sirius is on his way north once more; Minerva has agreed to care for him as a 'pet' for a while before we figure out something rather more permanent. I did not disclose exactly why he is needed back, I thought he might be more… believing in person."

"You mean he won't think dark magic or something." Said Lily pragmatically.

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The next morning Harry woke up sweating, scar pounding. That dream had been… intense. Riddle, Wormtail, the snake and some old muggle who had died… murdered. It was… disturbing. So realistic. It was like he was actually there. And his scar. The last time it had hurt like _that_ Quirrell, well Voldemort, had been near, actually _in_ the castle. And trying to kill him as an aside.

He sat up in his bed, and kneaded his forehead, thinking. The hospital was dark around him, and he smiled as the events of the previous day came back to him. His _parents_ were here. His _PARENTS_. He bit back a grin taking, in the two people-shaped lumps in the beds next to him.

Gulping the water conveniently placed on his bedside table (quite unlike most public hospitals where water is treated as a precious resource…) he fumbled for his glasses, shoving them onto his nose. The pounding in his head dulled as the water hit his system. He'd need to tell someone about this. Dumbledore would probably want to know- this was Voldemort, and he was right here after all.

Making his mind up he pulled on a shirt, grabbed his wand and exited the wing quietly- not wanting to tickle the sleeping dragon that was Madam Pomfrey annoyed.

He padded softly down the hall, coming face to face with the gargoyle outside of the headmaster's office. He paused, lolling on one foot. "Sherbet lemon?" he said uncertainly.

The gargoyle didn't move.

"Right. Um… chocolate frog? Butterbeer? Fizzing whizbee?" he furrowed his brow, thinking harder of all the wizarding sweets he knew. "Liquorice wands? Blood lollipops? Cockroach cluster?" he stopped again. Sherbet lemon, sherbet lemon… that was muggle… "Mars bars. Wine gums. Humbugs-"

The gargoyle jumped aside.

Harry mounted the stairs until he reached the thick wooden door at the top. Raising his hand to knock, he hesitated. What would he say? The dream, while still bugging him, was a lot less clear than it had been, and how exactly would he say it?

He was still battling with his head when an amused voice called from the other side of the door for him to come in. Harry shoved open the door and walked into the office. It hadn't changed much in the two years since he had been there last, but Harry had a sneaking suspicion that this wouldn't be the last time he was there, and that it wouldn't always look like this. Dumbledore was standing just in front of his desk, fully clothed. Harry briefly wondered if he ever slept.

"What seems to be the problem Harry?"

"Well, sir, you see, I had this dream…" he hesitated. This was turning out to sound more stupid than he had imagined. He reddened slightly. "It was about Voldemort." He blurted out. "He was in this big old house, with Peter and his snake and he killed this old muggle." He stopped abruptly, feeling a little foolish.

Dumbledore looked at him over his half-moon spectacles. "Was there anything else?" he said calmly.

"Yes sir. My scar hurt sir." Harry cursed the way in which he said it- dull, like it was of no real importance.

Dumbledore didn't appear to care though. "Was there anything else?"

"Not that I can remember." Said Harry. It wasn't technically a lie- after all, he could have imagined that they had been plotting to kill him, or gotten the words mixed up or something. The dialogue was a little fuzzy remembering after all.

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully and beckoned for the two of them to adjourn to the hospital wing for breakfast.

When they got back down his parents were awake, and looking around anxiously. Lily visibly relaxed and James breathed a sigh of relief when their son entered the wing once more. Lily stood up and raced over to him, ignoring madam Pomfrey's protests that she get back into bed at once. she enveloped her son in a hug, as if to convince herself that he was really there before sitting back down on her bed, patting the spot next to her for him.

Dumbledore chuckled as Madam Pomfrey wheeled out a tray of breakfast foods and potions from her office. "I've flooed Molly and Arthur Weasley to explain the situation, and they would be delighted to have you stay for a while. I told Molly we would arrive at around eleven- give Harry enough time to collect his things and what not. Cornelius will be meeting us for lunch tomorrow at one o'clock to organise you both being recognised as alive once more."

The three of them nodded, and the formidable mistress of the hospital wing scowled her displeasure at their leaving her clutches so soon.

At around ten o'clock the three Potters stood in the dusty shrieking shack, with dire warnings from Poppy Pomfrey echoing in their ears. Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore would meet them at the Burrow to make sure they arrived alright, then would come again at twelve the next day to pick them up for lunch with the minister.

"They still live in Surrey don't they?" asked Lily through pursed lips. Harry nodded, wondering uneasily what would happen when he turned up at Privet Drive with his dead parents.

Lily stuck out her arm and Harry held it uneasily, James rested his hand on her shoulder so he'd know where he was apparating to. Lily turned and the binding darkness engulfed them for a second before they appeared in the street that Harry had lived on all of his life.

At ten o'clock on a Tuesday morning there wasn't much activity on the street as a whole. The housewives were inside, cleaning up the breakfasts, the men off at work, winning bread and bringing home bacon and other stereotypical nonsense. The teenage sons were undoubtedly out in the park with their friends, being a public nuisance, or in the backyard doing manly chores, while the teenage girls would be shopping or something similar.

Lily Potter took all of this in, and reflected that this type of crap hadn't changed a bit. Her sister would fit in just perfectly here. She frowned as she looked at her husband and son. The three of them looked _far_ too normal…

Let it never be said that Lily was mature all of the time.

Taking out her wand she transformed the family into extremely outlandish looking beings. Considering the heat, their clothes were few and far between. Jewellery really suited the guys Lily thought, stepping back to admire her handiwork.

Straightening her back and sticking her wand behind her ear, ignoring the befuddled looks on the faces' of her husband and son, she strode up to the front door of number four Privet drive and knocked firmly.

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_Sorry it's only part 1, I'll have part 2 up in a couple of days, I just wanted to post __something._

_Remember the ice-cream poll is always running._

_TTFN, Rawr_

_XD Mogseltof_


	6. The Family You Choose Part 2

_Garrah! Mogseltof speaking- Heh. So this is a little late… I'm really sorry. Really, really sorry. O.o The ice creams this instalment go to jessirose85, keeperoliver, SunshineBear01, XritaskeeterhatersX, RachelDJack, azphxbrd, jjjc, Duckyumbrella, Louey06, flyingfiddler, ramenlover1050 and Sol Swan Cullen. You guys are awesome, sorry for making you wait _

_Chapter 4- The Family You Choose (cont.)_

"_Straightening her back and sticking her wand behind her ear, ignoring the befuddled looks on the faces' of her husband and son, she strode up to the front door of number four Privet drive and knocked firmly."_

Petunia Dursley had been having a good day. Her nephew was off somewhere- and while she might not like where he was, he wasn't bothering her. Vernon had gone off to work in a good mood (or as good a mood as he could be in) and Dudley had eaten all of his breakfast without complaining (much). The housewife could actually be seen smiling as she wiped down the benches after seeing off her Diddums to the Polkis' (such a nice family, so good to her Dudley).

So when the doorbell rang Petunia didn't mind that much. Of course this was before she had opened it. And if Dudley hadn't come back from lunch when he had with his 'friend' it might've all worked out ok. Or it might not. Fate likes a crooked hand, and this family was really getting the curve balls.

She opened the door, smile fixed in place, and came face to face with something that had once been a nightmare.

Her sister. Her SISTER. Her SISTER was standing on her stoop with her ne'er-do-well brother in law and nephew. She was dreaming. She had to be dreaming. There, there was no rational explanation. It couldn't happen.

Lily stood there, hands on hip, glaring at her sister. She very much doubted that Petunia had been particularly kind to her son. She still remembered her wedding. Petunia's gift had been ten pence and a 'Get Well Soon' card that she'd neglected to sign. Lily had eventually given up trying to keep the peace between them sometime in sixth year, and instead sniped back with equal dislike.

"Petunia." She said coolly. "I trust you've been keeping well."

Petunia's blood froze. "L-l-Lily. But you were dead!" Petunia didn't know what to think. She stood there, frozen, mind whirring almost uselessly, as if someone had thrown a spanner into the cogs of her mind.

Lily glared frostily. "So I've heard. Lead the way Harry." She said, nodding at her son to show them where his stuff was.

Petunia retreated to the kitchen, fervently wishing that she drank hard spirits.

Harry hid a grin behind his hand, beckoning the two adults upstairs. He jumped the step that creaked at the bottom with ease- something James approved wholeheartedly of- and sidestepped the dust bunny under the hall rug from where he'd skived off sweeping the previous day. He shoved open his bedroom door and walked in happily.

Lily and James had a couple of different reactions to their son's bedroom. Lily almost groaned at the sight of the mess, and James grinned at the sight which was familiar to him as his own teenaged bedroom. Lily rolled her eyes and waved her wand, objects flying neatly into the open trunk at the foot of Harry's bed.

James meanwhile had wandered over to Harry's broom. "So this is the Firebolt!" Harry nodded absently, checking under his floorboard to make sure that nothing was going to get left behind. James looked over the broom with a critical eye "It's good quality- the shaping of the tail…" Lily thwacked him over the head.

"James, stop mooning over the bloody broom and get your son's trunk." She said tartly. James meekly handed the broom back over to his teenage son and grabbed the trunk with one hand. He gave an 'oof' at the weight, before doing the intelligent thing and casting a lightening charm on it. Lily rolled her eyes and he grinned sheepishly at her.

They took the stuff downstairs, but paused at the foot of the stairs. Voices were coming from the kitchen.

Petunia had taken some Dutch courage to help her nerves. And Dudley was back. Wonderful.

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When they arrived at the Burrow Lily and James looked marginally more satisfied than they had been at Privet Drive, and Lily took the time to clean them up so they looked more… sensible. This wasn't her sister after all, she could afford to be polite.

Molly and Ginny were waiting outside. Lily and James greeted Molly warmly, having met her through her brothers previously, and gave a small smile at Ginny.

Ginny smiled perfunctorily in return and stepped forward. "Ginny." She said calmly. "Pleased to meet you."

James gave an evil looking grin. "An original female Weasley? How many times did Arth-" he broke off with a yelp as Lily took a firm hold of his earlobe.

"Finish that sentence James Potter and I WILL castrate you." She smiled sweetly before releasing his ear. "Besides, Ginny was born a few days after Harry's birthday- don't you remember?" James merely flushed a deep red, and Ginny snickered.

Suddenly, a bushy, brown haired blur raced past, followed by a marginally slower redheaded blur and a small, orange tiger, who paused to smirk up at James while twining itself through Lily's legs. There was a bang from the house and another redheaded boy in horn-rimmed glasses fell from a third floor window- and bounced. A pair of yet more redheads were sticking out of the window the other boy had fallen from.

"Damn." Said one conversationally.

"He hit the cushioning charm." Said the other, a little disappointed.

James sniggered, Lily sighed and Mrs Weasley looked torn between horror and wanting to remain civil in the presence of guests. Fred and George couldn't have picked a better time to play that particular prank.

Ginny laughed, as did the three teens behind the newly resurrected couple. They turned, and saw their son grinning broadly at a gangly, freckly redhead and a slightly shorter bushy, brown haired girl.

Said bushy, brown haired girl stepped forward, breathing a little heavily from her mad dash to greet her friend. "Hermione Granger." She said, "Pleased to meet you Mr and Mrs Potter."

"Nice to meet you Hermione." Lily said brightly. So this was Hermione…

She elbowed her husband in the ribs at the same time as the 14 year old poked the redhead in the stomach. Both man and boy spoke at the same time.

"Oh! Um, I'm Ron…"

"Right! Hi, uh, nice to meet you…"

Woman and girl face palmed. Harry and Ginny laughed while Mrs Weasley shook her head bemusedly. Mrs Weasley took hold of Lily's arm and began to steer the group inside, proffering tea and fresh biscuits. She waved away Harry's ceaseless thanks for the food parcels.

The adults moved into the kitchen, while the teens converged on the living room. They looked up as a noise like a firecracker came from above their heads- Fred and George it seemed, had retreated back to their room and were trying to deter Percy from an act of retribution. Ron made shooing gestures and clucking noises at his younger sister, who stared at him, affronted, before stalking outside to join her oldest brothers who were throwing a quaffle back and forth.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Subtle Ron. Real subtle."

Harry grinned as his two best friends turned to him. Hermione looked very happy and Ron was grinning like a madman. "So what's it like?" the red headed boy asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but Harry honestly didn't mind the question. "Excellent." He said, "The look on my Aunt's face…"

Hermione shook her head and Ron sniggered. "Serves her right." He said, "I remember having to rescue you in the car."

Hermione tutted. "That would be the car you later flew to Hogwarts- I still can't believe you did that."

Harry and Ron laughed and Hermione's eyes found the ceiling once more. Ron broke off and winced. "Howler wasn't quite as impressive though."

"Broken wand ended up being pretty handy." Said Harry.

"Git." Both boys automatically added.

Harry shivered. "I'm not glad we hit the willow."

"Poor car." Said Ron wistfully. "Though that was really good in the end." He said fervently.

"If I never see an Acromantula again it will be too soon." Said Harry firmly.

"Agreed." Ron nodded enthusiastically. Hermione snorted.

There was a slight cough from behind the teens and they whipped around. James was looking slightly impressed, though quite serious, but Lily and Molly looked downright scary. Lily took a deep breath and said in an icy voice, "Flying car? Broken wand? _Acromantula?_ Speak. All of you. You will tell of your _extracurricular_ activities over the past three years and you will do so now."

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_Heh. Please don't kill me? I'm sorry it's late… life caught up, and if I fail school it'll be pretty safe to say there won't be any updates. I write when I can, and lately that hasn't been too often. You are all awesome for reading this, and don't worry, you get to find out about what exactly went down at the Dursley's later…_

_TTFN_

_XD Mogseltof_


	7. Ja! I'm updating!

_Just to say – You are all the GREATEST. You know that, right? Every time I got a new fave story, review or story alert in my inbox, I feel a little prick of guilt that I hadn't updated. I'm sorry I'm such a terrible updater._

_Massive thanks go out to XritaskeeterhatersX, __xXlizzieluvtwilightXx,__ Jiyle, SunshineBear01, Charlee13, azphxbrd, Sol Swan Cullen, ramenlover1050, Louey06, BARON2462, songoku778, jjjc, jessirose85, Vicki219, Mariann's, Rori Potter, ShiningStarLily97, starberries bite, __Book-Mania-Girl520, Gxprincess, Dinny93, pennypotter128, Artemis Goh, Animus of Masada, Siriuslover7, anaa__ and ObSeSsEd TwIlIgHt FaN jUmElLe who get the cookies and cream ice creams this chapter. :D_

_**Chapter 5- Tall Tales**_

"_Flying car? Broken wand? Acromantula? Speak. All of you. You will tell of your extracurricular activities over the past three years and you will do so now."_

Harry, Hermione and Ron could feel their knees buckle under the combined glares and tones of the two mothers. There was a small stampede to the living room as the rest of the Weasleys, minus Percy (who was still writing about cauldron thickness), sensed something interesting in the offing and deemed it safe to descend, and the three teens found themselves addressing nearly the entire family.

As Mr Weasley opened the front door, he was commanded to sit by his wife. In other circumstances, it would have been funny. Here and now, it was rather terrifying.

The two mothers had been momentarily distracted as introductions were made between those who hadn't previously met, but this didn't hold them for long. Soon enough the small sitting room was crowded full and the three were given the signal to start talking from the formidable women.

Ginny appeared to be taking notes.

Hermione would have been watching for ways to make her two friends buckle if she hadn't been in the situation herself.

"Um…" Harry said intelligently before stopping, nervously looking at his best friends.

His mother stared him down. "Go on." She said. "I can't wait to hear all the excellent reasons I'm sure you'll have for flying cars and giant spiders."

They gulped. They were in for it now.

"Well you see-"

"It was like this-"

"What happened was-" They had all spoken at once. Then stopped to allow the others to speak.

Hermione swallowed nervously and looked at the other two. "I'll take first year if you two do second and third. Deal?"

They nodded furiously. "Dibbs third." Harry said. Ron glared at him, not particularly wanting to have to talk about the bloody spiders himself.

Hermione licked her lips. This was not how she had envisioned her relaxing holiday at the Burrow. "Well, first year, um, right. We, uh, met on the train, I don't think they liked me all that much, we got Sorted into Gryffindor, in our first flying lesson Harry risked expulsion, detention, point loss etcetera, but instead ended up on the house team."

James grinned while Lily scowled. Quidditch was definitely a conflicting point here.

"Not a lot really happened until Halloween. Then Harry and Ron rescued me from the troll, oh, but before that-"

"Wait! Troll!" Lily and James had asked synonymously, James with excitement, Lily with horror. She hit him.

"Yeah, troll, but before that there was Fluffy, the massive, three-headed dog-"

"Like Cerberus?" Lily. She had asked with interest, the inner curiosity coming out in this aspect.

Hermione nodded, "Mhmm, but it was standing on a trapdoor and we figured there was something in it, and someone had broken into Gringotts-"

"Someone broke into _Gringotts?_" James asked, amazed.

Hermione nodded again, "Yes, but I didn't know any of this until after Halloween because of the troll. I was in the bathroom and it came in and Harry and Ron saved me from it-"

Lily buried her head in her hands.

"- And then we started hanging out. Um, then at the first Quidditch match Harry nearly got killed and we thought it was Snape-"

"_Snape?_" Lily and James had asked in two very different tones.

"Yes, but it wasn't," said Hermione, starting to sound exasperated, "_Anyway_, Hagrid let slip something about a man named Flamel-"

Lily sat bolt upright. Famed alchemist Flamel? Fabled creator of the philosopher's stone Flamel? Nicholas Flamel?

"- But then we got sidetracked because of the dragon-"

Lily groaned. There just had to be a dragon didn't there? None of them noticed Charlie grinning slightly, and Hermione had turned a slight pink and was ploughing on. Norbert was not something she wanted to cover.

"- Which we lost _so_ many points for _and _got a detention in the forest-"

James pouted. That was so much cooler than any of his detentions. Lily growled and smacked him up the back of his head.

"- And then there was the dead unicorn, and you-know-who-"

"Voldemort," three voices immediately corrected, to everyone else's discomfort. Lily and James stopped and almost leaned closer, panicking slightly. Voldemort? They had been eleven!

"- And Harry figured out he was after the Stone, after we had figured out it was the Philosopher's Stone that the dog was guarding, but we still thought Professor Snape was the bad guy. So we tried to stop him-"

Lily groaned again. Of course they did. Severus wasn't that bad was he?

"- which meant of course going down the trapdoor. Hagrid let slip how to get past Fluffy, so we got the trapdoor open and went down. We had to jump, because there was no ladder, and we landed on a plant thing. It was Devil's Snare and I got out ok, but the other two were trapped and I had to set it on fire to get them out-"

"You forgot the bit about forgetting you were a witch," Ron sniggered into his hand. Hermione scowled and kicked with the side of her foot.

"_Anyway_. Next, we went through to a room filled with flying keys, and we had to catch the one that opened the next door. Harry caught it when Ron and I distracted it and we were through to the next room," Hermione paused to take a deep breath, and Harry had a twitch of a smile, thinking that the way she was telling it was rather like a game show. "The next room was a giant chessboard; we had to beat the white pieces to get across. We actually had to be pieces."

Lily and James paled, thoroughly familiar with the game.

"Ron was a knight, Harry a bishop and I was a castle. Ron managed to get us in a position to win, but," she faltered for a second, "He had to be taken for it to work," she said it in almost a whisper, the memory of one of her best friends' limp form lying on the stone chessboard flashing to the forefront of her mind.

The same thought had occurred to Mrs Weasley as she flinched violently. She knew of the events of their first three years, but Ron had neglected to mention his nearly dying in their 'little adventure'.

"So Harry and I kept going. We went past an unconscious troll and came to the penultimate room. It was a logic puzzle and fire sprang up in the doorways. There were seven potions. One would let us go forward, one back, two were wine and three were poison. There were in a row and we had to figure out which was which from the logic puzzle provided. I solved the puzzle, but there was only enough of the proceed potion for one person. So Harry went on and I went back to get Ron and contact Dumbledore," Hermione fell silent.

"Why didn't you go to Dumbledore in the first place?" Lily asked the three of them.

Harry took the plunge. "We tried, but he wasn't there. He'd been tricked."

James and Lily took this in. this was their _first_ year. Their _first_. "So what happened when you went in?" Lily asked.

Harry shifted uncomfortably. Hermione glared at him. She hadn't been there, and certainly wasn't going to be telling it when he could. So he told them about Quirrell and the mirror and Voldemort and the stone. To his surprise, no one was yelling at this. Fred and George looked slightly impressed. Mr and Mrs Weasley were slightly white-faced, Ron not having told them everything after their first year. Bill and Charlie were impressed. Ginny was, but not so much; she had picked up on a few things. Harry though, was looking at his parents once more. Lily was a little pale and sitting back, eyes shut against the world. James was leaning forward, his face unreadable.

Harry paused, uncertain. "Second year," James said quietly.

Ginny stood and left the room. She still had nightmares and absolutely no desire to hear the account of her first year at Hogwarts from the eyes of other people. Mrs Weasley stood and followed her, having already heard it from Ron and Harry that terrifying night a bit more than a year previously, wanting to comfort her youngest child and only daughter.

Ron told the story of the Chamber of Secrets in halting tones, wavering when he told the bit about Hermione being petrified, flinching when he reached Aragog and having to stop for breath when he reached the bit about Ginny being taken into the Chamber. He conveniently left out the tale of the Polyjuice potion, judging (and perhaps rightly so) that Mrs Potter probably wouldn't be too impressed about the lengths they were willing to go to break the rules. Though he supposed Mr Potter might have been impressed. Or rather, Prongs would.

Harry almost groaned when he realised he was going to have to tell the tail end himself again. His parents were looking fearful for Ginny and himself, despite the fact that they were both alright and here.

His mother had a sharp intake of breath when he told them about Riddle being Voldemort, and both his parents' eyes sharpened as he explained about the diary.

Harry paused before he thought to start on his third year. This was the year Sirius had escaped. His parents knew he was innocent – but the Weasleys didn't. He exchanged significant glances with the other two Hermione's eyes widened in comprehension. "I don't really remember much exciting stuff from last year," he said blandly. Ron looked puzzled, and slightly indignant, for a second, but Hermione muttered "Padfoot" in his ear and he nodded. Mr Weasley gave them sharp looks, but acquiesced.

Mrs Weasley re-entered the room, a much more happy looking Ginny trailing behind her. "Are we done then?" she asked, and the room nodded as one. "Oh good. Now I believe we were having a cup of tea…"

The impromptu meeting dispersed and Harry, Ron and Hermione headed up to Ron's room, to resume their conversation in a more private place.

_**TPT**_

_I am so, so sorry. I can't say it enough. Hopefully there won't be quite as massive a gap before the next chapter, but I can't make any promises. After exams though, there will be TEN weeks where I can write, and I'll try to make it up to you then. I hope you enjoyed. _

_XD Mogseltof_


	8. Oh Look, Another One!

_I love you all so much. The response for this story has been fantastic and as such a terrible updater I really don't deserve it! :D I'll have the next one out ASAP._

_Huge, huge thank you to xritaskeeterhatersx, Animus of Masada, Dinny93, Sol Swan Cullen, azphxbrd, GinnyPotter4evr, Louey06, darkplayer35, __Sophie'thegeek, paddiesgirl818, V.L. Crawford, paramore1351, __BeckyBoo12221, 13fiction-novels, worldnerd12, Enchantedxromance, The WizardingDemigod and Cayti Leigh who reviewed the last chapter. All of you are seriously the greatest thing on this earth to me right now!_

_**Chapter 6 – Meetings**_

Severus Snape was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a particularly patient, kind or even tempered man. As such, his temper was a touch foul as he irritably threw the floo powder into the fireplace and watched the flames flare green. It did not improve when Minerva gave him a look that could very probably melt steel and it certainly wasn't helped by her smug telling to him that the Headmaster required him to pick up a pair of people from the Potter brat's company at the home of the Weasley horde. It should be fairly easy to tell which ones required his services as an _escort_ – they would undoubtedly be the only ones lacking red hair.

Or at least, that was as far as Severus knew.

Minerva watched the potions master stalk away from her, towards the grounds and their boundaries to disapparate, and felt a slight twinge of sympathy for him. He was going to be shocked, certainly, and the stern Professor wondered if she should perhaps have warned him.

There was a sniff from beside her. "He could have at _least_ had the courtesy to tell me when he'd next be restocking my dreamless sleep supply," Poppy said severely. "I'm almost out."

Minerva smiled slightly. "I do believe he merely wants to get this errand out of the way as quickly as possible – you know Severus. You don't suppose I should have warned him?" she added as a hesitant afterthought. It seemed a bit… cruel, to dump that kind of thing on him with no warning.

Poppy snorted. "Either he would have attempted to hex you, or he would have ignored you. Severus doesn't accept the impossible."

"I don't believe either you or I would have accepted the impossible two days ago."

"No, but people do say that seeing is believing."

"Then these people have obviously never heard of delusions."

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All of the collective Weasleys, Potters and the lone Granger could pinpoint what they were doing and where they were at the exact moment Severus Snape discovered James Potter was in the land of the living once more.

Hermione and Ginny were sitting with Lily Potter by the orchard, Hermione with her nose buried in a book on ancient Rome while she arbitrarily 'watched' the scratch match of Quidditch that was occurring. Ginny, in rather a bad temper due to her exclusion from said match was attempting to remain civil, while Lily rerouted the youngest Weasley's aggravation into grass blade whistles.

Lily Potter herself, was cheering on the match with the whistles (though if she had been about fifteen years in the future, the boys playing would have grumbled about vuvuzelas and distractions).

Fred, Ron and Charlie were playing against Bill, Harry and George in an intense match (Ron and Bill keepers, Fred and Charlie chasing against Harry and George in the scoring only match), where the only apparent rule was that Fred and George could not be on the same team. Mr Weasley was refereeing from the sidelines to make sure that no one got hurt.

Mrs Weasley was in the kitchen, keeping an eye on the lunch for the rest of the group, and Percy was in his bedroom, checking over his report on the thickness of cauldron bottoms.

James himself was sitting on the front porch with a letter from Remus, and, as such, was the first person Snape saw upon reaching the Burrow.

Snape's immediate thought was that Potter really needed to get a life. His second thought was along the lines of '_what has the idiot done to his eyes?'_, and his third picked up on the fact that Potter was missing his scar. Severus Snape (despite what Harry, Ron, James, Sirius, Fred and George would have liked to believe) was not an idiot. He just didn't believe in the impossible. So when James Potter stood up and looked him in the eye, his immediate reaction was shock, swiftly followed by disbelief and anger.

There was a loud bang and everyone directed their attention to the front of the house where it had come from. Lily stood and raced towards where the noise had come from, knowing that James was in that particular area. Hermione and Ginny followed behind her, a touch concerned. None of the boys even bothered hopping off of their brooms; they just flew straight to the source, overtaking the females quickly. Mrs Weasley dusted off her hands and exited the kitchen, her mouth already forming stern words, thinking it was the twins up to something.

Percy didn't even look up, having come to the same conclusion as his mother.

By the time the group had made it out to the front, a furious Severus Snape and an equally irate James Potter were squaring off, wands raised threateningly. One of the trees that had previously occupied the front yard was now a smoking stump.

Harry pulled up on his broom, braking at the sight of his least favourite teacher, while Lily paused, uncertain as to how to proceed. Mrs Weasley beat them both, stalking across the yard. "PUT YOUR WANDS _DOWN_!" she yelled, whipping out her own. "THERE WILL BE _NO_ FIGHTING HERE! JAMES POTTER YOU OUGHT TO KNOW BETTER! SEVERUS SNAPE, A LITTLE WARNING WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE!" she halted and straightened fully, breathing heavily, a frown etched on her face. Hermione hid a giggle.

Snape looked at her sharply, and James looked to be on the verge of retorting, but a glare from his wife closed his mouth. Snape followed the other man's line of sight and saw Lily. He felt as if he had been punched. His mouth snapped shut abruptly and he glowered as Harry leapt off his broom and shadowed his mother as though he couldn't stand to be far from her. Snape understood that all too well.

"Dumbledore has asked that I bring you to his office for lunch," he said stiffly, not directly looking at anyone. "He inferred that it was of some import," he turned and walked away from them, disapparating as soon as he reached the gate.

Lily smacked James lightly on the back of the head, eyes worried. Friendship, even a broken one like her's and Snape's, left it's own marks and memories. It hurt Lily to think that once they had been so close, and now he couldn't even look at her properly.

"Well," one of the twins said brightly. "I suppose it could have gone worse."

Most of the mass returned to their previous activities, the boys arguing about who should have possession of their apple 'quaffle', Ginny asking Hermione a question about her summer homework. Mrs Weasley put her wand back in her apron and stalked back inside, huffing slightly.

Harry however, hesitated. "You have to go meet the minister now," he said quietly, a touch disappointed. The past day had felt somewhat... normal, despite the thrill he got every single time he caught a glimpse of either one of his parents. It was nice. He knew that they wouldn't be gone forever, and they wouldn't even be that far away, but he still felt a little twinge whenever he wasn't sure where they were.

Lily hugged him impulsively. "Yes," she said softly, not entirely realising that her son felt almost exactly the same way she did. "We'll be back as soon as possible," she added on determinedly. She was not going to be leaving her son for long, not when the last time she had 'left' it had been for fourteen years.

James smiled and awkwardly patted Harry's shoulder. "Behave yourself," he joked lightly. "I don't think Molly would appreciate it if you put an apple through her window or something."

Harry grinned. "I will, Dad," he said, savouring the feel of the word 'Dad' on his tongue, completely aware of how foreign it sounded to himself.

Lily smiled brightly and caught James' hand. The two of them walked out of the gate, and she kept her gaze firmly on Harry until James twisted beside her and she mimicked his actions.

They apparated with a loud crack, just outside of the Hogwarts' gates. Professor McGonagall greeted them with a forced smile, Snape having just been through with a dark look about him. She didn't want to theorise about exactly what he was up to now.

The two of them walked up to Dumbledore's office, slightly more uncomfortable than the last time they had, and acutely nervous at what was about to occur. How would the minister react? Come to think of it, they weren't entirely sure who exactly the minister _was_, let alone have any gauge of his reactions.

"Humbugs," Lily said to the gargoyle, far more evenly than she felt.

They heard voices as they ascended the stairs. " – presume this is about the tournament then , Dumbledore?"

"Actually Cornelius, no. I believe we have talked the tournament to death already, this is something a little more… disconcerting."

"Disconcerting? What on earth do you mean Dumbledore?"

"You shall see. Come in!" the last was directed at James, who had just raised his fist to knock. Lily stopped herself from giggling at the look of surprise on her husband's face. The door swung open, and the Potters found themselves face to face with the minister for magic, Cornelius Fudge.

Fudge looked at them, flummoxed. His bowler hat (which he had removed to place next to the lunch table set up in the room where Dumbledore's desk would normally be) fell from his fingertips. "I – what – how – Dumbledore!"

"Hi," James said brightly, dropping his fist down and extending his hand. "I'm James Potter, nice to meet you!"


	9. Ministerial Lunch

_You guys rule. You know that right? A huge thanks to everyone who has been pointing out things I need to improve on and I love you all so much for reading! Erm, I'm introducing a couple of OCs this chappie. Tell me yay or nay after reading, they're kind of vital to the plot, but if there's loads of nays this early I can do a bit of swapping and spot editing._

_Huge thanks to the reviewers of last chapter - Becky-Boo, Dinny93, 101EmilyRox, pennypotter128, RachelDJack, V. L. Crawford, Louey06, moo, XritaskeeterhatersX, CatWriter, EnchantedxRomance, Animus of Masada, Sol Swan Cullen, Rori Potter, Tis wur u put yur naim, Dimcairien, ReiiLollies, Loads of Randomness, The Wizarding Demigod, Mordanyes, wizmage, Nightwing509, Asakura Joja and jjjc. _

_**Chapter 7 – Ministerial Lunch**_

"_Hi," James said brightly, dropping his fist down and extending his hand. "I'm James Potter, nice to meet you!"_

Fudge gaped at the two Potters like a suffocating goldfish for a minute or two before James sighed whimsically and dropped his had. "You must be Minister Fudge," he said cheerfully. "How are you enjoying the top position?" he added as a polite afterthought.

Fudge opened and shut his mouth again.

"Perhaps we had better get down to lunch?" Dumbledore intervened, mouth twitching slightly, the only sign that he found the situation amusing. "I trust you remain well, Lily, James?"

"Very much so, Albus," Lily said, gently steering James over to the table by the elbow. He gave a manic grin to the shocked Minister as he went by, and Lily restrained herself from rolling her eyes too much.

The three non-shocked members of the little party sat down at the table and looked up expectantly at the minister. Fudge shook himself and sat down, shooting glances at all three of them as he did so. They ate in silence for a few minutes before he made his move. "I-uh-I don't suppose this is some sort of... trick, Dumbledore?" Fudge asked hopefully, eyes flicking to James and Lily.

"No, Cornelius, it is not," Dumbledore said gravely, the twinkle in his eyes belying his amusement to the Potters. "We have done extensive testing, and have... shall we say, definite proof that they are who they seem to be."

"Ah," Fudge said dispiritedly.

"So how is the political scene these days?" James asked cheerfully, and, in Lily's opinion, far away from how seriously he should have been acting. "We've missed a fair bit you see, being dead and whatnot," he added.

Lily had to stop herself from hitting him. Gentle James, real subtle...

Fudge nearly dropped his fork. "Uh-it, well, it goes as well as it could be expected. Um," Fudge gulped, his eyes roaming for a second.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-TPT

The woman with the messy blonde hair and bright brown eyes was moving rapidly around her work room. Piles of parchment were stuffed haphazardly into already overflowing drawers and old books were piled into doubled-up bookshelves. She upturned a bag and poured it over the desk, sorting through a pile of jumbled objects – a vial of old blood; a leather bound, old book, with some suspicious stains on the cover; dried flowers and more.

She sorted through the mess and swore loudly. The door swung open silently and her daughter stuck her head around. "Is everything alright in there, Mum?"

"It's fine, Elizabeth," she said shortly. "Is there anything in particular you wanted?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Just to see if you're ok. I could hear that last one all the way down the hall."

"I'm fine. Don't you have reading or something to do? I know I always did. You've got OWLs this year as well – a little extra study isn't going to kill you, you know."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and shut the door, turning and walking down the hall towards her bedroom. Her mum had gone completely mental over the last few months. She wouldn't talk about her job anymore – not that she had been in the habit of sharing what she did in the Department of Mysteries – she just locked herself up in her study for hours on end. Elizabeth wasn't even sure if she had even been in the house at all for three days or so in the last week.

The fifteen year old sighed and put it out of her mind, flipping open a random textbook and losing herself to the world of magnetic charms. It was probably just something for work.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-TPT

Far away, south a little bit, on a very sunny beach, a roly-poly stray dog begged for sausages from a man in a cart. Ten minutes later it walked away, very well fed and with a smug grin plastered all over it's snout. Its black fur was clean, and someone had taken on the gargantuan task of brushing the huge beast. No one paid any attention to it as it disappeared past the small seaside town, though a few people pointed at a lone barn owl winging its way across the clear sky.

Sirius ducked into a small copse of trees and waited patiently for the owl. It perched on a branch and hooted dolefully at him, proffering the letter to him. Sirius carefully untied it and stroked the back of it's head before it flew away.

The parchment unrolled, and Sirius frowned once he read it's contents.

"_You are needed home. Events have been occurring._"

There was no mistaking the handwriting or the vague phrasing. Sirius sighed – his holiday was over.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-TPT

Harry sat quietly in the apple tree, watching Ron zoom towards him on his Firebolt. Hermione squeaked slightly from her position with a book among the roots, as the redhead pulled up sharply and dropped down next to her. Harry slid down the tree in a cloud of twigs and the three of them sat there, not speaking, not really doing anything. They watched as Fred and George pelted each other with apples.

Change was in the air.

_It's short, it's very short, I know, but I wanted to update and here felt right to end this chapter. I'm going to make the next one extra long, ok? Remember, your opinions are gold when I'm writing this._

_TTFN, Mogseltof_


	10. Excitement

_**Chapter 8 – Excitement**_

The Department of Mysteries had one rule: Observe, theorise, research all possibilities, but do not interfere. Or, as Bode liked to say, "Look, but for Merlin's sake don't touch!"

It was on this subject that Croaker was arguing with his companion as they scoured the campsite that had been set aside for the Quidditch World Cup. Bode glared at his partner. Maybe, just maybe if their Head of Department _hadn't_ fired Railer the same morning that the Research Librarian had accidentally locked himself in the broom cupboard they wouldn't be having this problem.* However, he had and now they had a dilemma on their hands.

"Damnit! She said she had tickets!" Bode hissed violently as they finished their fourth sweep of the last field. "She said she had bloody tickets!"

"Well she's hardly likely to turn up somewhere she _knows_ that we know she's going to be," Croaker muttered back to him. "Besides, the kneazle's out of the sack now – we know what she took and what she did, and I'm buggered if we can figure out how to reverse it."

"The only way to reverse it would be to re-kill them – and we can't exactly rewrite the entire universe around this incident!" Bode said, his voice rising violently.

Croaker hushed him quickly. "No, but we can do damage control. Remember when Jones went ballistic and grabbed that firecrab back in '89?"

Bode shuddered. "PR had an absolute field day. They aren't going to be handling _this_ though," He said shortly. "It's far too much of a large focus in the public eye _and_ we're trying to shift the blame at the moment. If PR gets involved it _will_ land solidly on our department and we will _all_ end up out on our arses."

"Or in Experimental Charms," Croaker said gloomily. They shared a glance. No, it _really shouldn't_ get out that ultimately, their Department was responsible for this mess.

"Let's check the next field over again," Bode said wearily. "Even if we can't find her we might be able to find _something_."

Although Croaker sincerely doubted it, he didn't say anything since Bode probably did too.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-TPT

Sirius stared at the newspaper in the bin, jaw hanging open in a distinctly un-dog-like manner. Abandoning his search for food, he grabbed the paper in his jaw and raced down into a dingy alley where he transfigured back into a form with opposable thumbs and lit his wand to properly read the article that had grabbed his attention. The first part was obscured by a large coffee stain.

"… _An exciting turn of events, a high profile puzzle to say the least, James and Lily Potter (34?), murdered by You-Know-Who have returned from the dead! While neither of them could be drawn to comment on their situation, reports tell us that they are staying with close family friends…_"

Sirius' numb fingers let the paper slide out of his grasp. 'Events have been occurring' didn't _begin_ to cover the magnitude of the situation. "Nox," he muttered, extinguishing his wand and sitting in the darkness.

All of his rational senses were telling him it was a dream, but his gut, honed by the rack of memory in Azkaban, was telling him in no uncertain terms that it wasn't some sick imagining of his desperate mind.

A few minutes later, a large black dog trotted out of the alley, headed directly north, tongue lolling out of the side of its mouth in an oddly thoughtful manner.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-TPT

Amelia Railer's study was almost completely upside down. Her breath came in short, heavy pants as she gazed around the small room in despair. It _had_ to be here, it just _had _to be. There was a knocking at the door. "Mum?" called Elizabeth's concerned voice. "Mum, are you ok? Mum?"

"I'm fine," Amelia replied flatly, willing herself to believe it was here. There was a tickling sensation in the back of her head, and, horror struck, the image of it lying on the floor as she left drifted to the front of her mind.

How could she be so _stupid_? If anyone found that it would be _disastrous_! Everyone would know… everyone would judge… she could be _found_. It was bad enough that Liz was going to Hogwarts! If someone found _that_…

She took a deep breath and began to straighten up, mind still buzzing. If it wasn't found until Elizabeth was at Hogwarts… yes her luck could hold out that long… she hoped. She picked up the dry flowers to reorganise them into their box and started picking up scrolls of parchment and replacing them into their folders as the plans began to form in her head. It could work…

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Molly didn't notice the tea pooling in her lap until she heard the chatter of voices outside the front door. She had been sitting quite happily in the kitchen when the owl with the Daily Prophet arrived, with the front page, with _that Mark_, at the _Cup_, where _Arthur_ and the _children_ and _James _and _Lily _–

Needless to say, Fred and George's complaints about strangulation from their mother were neither heard nor acknowledged when she hugged them.

The children satisfyingly smothered, Harry, Hermione and Ron headed directly upstairs to Ron's room, the others split off to their respective rooms (except for the twins, who went to play some Quidditch of their own) and the adults congregated in the kitchen.

Molly made them all cups of tea with still shaking hands, but by the time everyone had been served to their tastes, the trembling had subsided. "Are you ok Molly?" Lily asked, accepting her cup of tea.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Molly said, sitting down with her own. "It just… gave me a fright." Arthur patted her hand comfortingly.

They talked for a little while of matters of no real consequence, with Molly and Arthur continuing the process of filling James and Lily in on everything that had been happening while they were… well, dead, when the conversation took a few unexpected turns.

"Thank you so much for putting up with us," Lily said, biting her lip. "We really didn't mean to be such a burden-"

"Nonsense," Mrs Weasley said, "it's been a pleasure."

James and Lily shared a guilty glance, they really were imposing, and they didn't like it. Every time they tried to help out around the house, or put their money forward for shopping, they were waved off and it was making them feel very guilty, like they weren't doing enough.

"Still…" Lily said, "We're imposing and I don't like it that we are." She held up a hand to forestall Mrs Weasley's protest, but the matriarch ploughed on.

"But dear, home shopping is such a tough process, wouldn't it be better to wait until after the Hogwarts term is in progress so you don't always have children underfoot?"

James shook his head, "I think we'd both prefer it if we had Harry in on it," he said firmly, Lily nodding in agreement. "Do you know of any places that might be available?"

"We'll there's plenty of space around here – it's more a building area though."

"Generally you can find a lot of places in London itself."

"I heard something about places for sale up in Cornwall."

Lily groaned and put her head in her hands. "We might as well just do up the Shrieking Shack and live _there_," she said.

Mr and Mrs Weasley laughed, and Lily herself giggled slightly before sitting up properly and turning to James. "Right, so we should probably look in the Prophet, make a list-"

James wasn't listening though – he was staring at her, a slow smile spreading over his face. "We _could_ do up the Shrieking Shack," he said, grinning broadly.

Lily stared at him. "It was just a joke-"

"But we _could_!"

James stood and bounded off, grabbing a quill and parchment, making notes furiously. Lily and the Weasleys stared at him. "God help me, I married a mad man," Lily said, finishing her tea in one gulp before standing to help him assemble a working plan.

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*Let us presume, that if perhaps the head of the Department hadn't woken up on the wrong side of the bed, late and without his coffee, he would have reacted far more sensibly to Amelia Railer's proposal instead of chewing her out, sarcastically asking whether she had the comprehension abilities of a toddler, dismissing her idea as impossible and firing her for getting on his nerves for the eighth time that week. It is _amazing_ what a little bit of caffeine and sugar does for the human psyche.

_Ergo, my choice of departure point from canon for the purposes of this fic. Hi, it's been a little while – and I'm really, really sorry about that. I just started my last year of high school and discovered that it is, in fact, possible to drown in homework and study :S. I know I promised that this would be a long one, but I apparently suck. I'm so sorry. I am hoping to write a lot more on all my stories over Easter though, so here's hoping!_

_Mordanyes, Dinny93, pennypotter128, Louey06, Sol Swan Cullen, jesse1588, sjm95x, The Wizarding DemiGod, XritaskeeterhatersX, Animus of Masada, V. L. Crawford, Cheese Lover, In The Mix, AliceCullen0629, My boyfriend is Draco Malfoy, bandnerd2669, Lisa, cookyc, , deathy-cool, kisabloom92 and When Hazel Meets Emerald thank you so much for your reviews and prompting :)_

_That being said, a huge round of applause to the wondrous Lollipop Child who took on the monster task of editing this chapter! :D :D :D Thank you so much for putting up with my crappy updating and I hope you enjoyed!_


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